The Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t had a wonderful Christmastime. December has been an absolute disaster, the Steelers losing to the 2-10 Arizona Cardinals and the 2-10 New England Patriots, and those losses have revealed cracks in Pittsburgh’s locker room. Minkah Fitzpatrick called out his teammates after the loss to New England, and Kimberley A. Martin thinks that Pittsburgh’s locker room is too fractured to even produce a winning season. On ESPN’s Get Up this morning, Martin said that the ego in Pittsburgh’s locker room will cause Mike Tomlin to have his first losing season.
“Unfortunately, ego seems to be rampant in this locker room and the players are gonna cost their coach head coach his first losing season, and it’s a shame,” Martin said.
It’s worth noting that Martin covered Pittsburgh’s Week 12 win over the Cincinnati Bengals for ESPN, so she’s not a total outsider speculating on what’s going on. But it’s easy to see regardless that Pittsburgh’s locker room isn’t in a great place. Fitzpatrick and Diontae Johnson got into an altercation and had to be separated after Pittsburgh’s Week 10 loss to the Cleveland Browns, and Fitzpatrick essentially said after last Thursday’s game that guys aren’t putting in the work to win.
Johnson and fellow WR George Pickens have had their share of issues with dealing with frustration about the offense, and while it’s fair to be frustrated with how bad this unit has been, as Tomlin said Monday, particularly pertaining to Pickens, frustration does no good if you aren’t finding a solution and helping the cause. The biggest indicator that something might be wrong was the team coming out flat against New England, just four days after losing to the Cardinals.
The Steelers are still 7-6, so they would have to finish with a losing record in their last four games to fall under .500. With three of their remaining four games on the road and four tough opponents in the Indianapolis Colts, Cincinnati Bengals, Seattle Seahawks and Baltimore Ravens due up, it’s not out of the realm of possibility, especially with Mitch Trubisky under center in place the injured Kenny Pickett. The talent on this team should prevent that from happening, but the Steelers should have beat the Cardinals and Patriots, too. Now, with four tougher opponents on the slate, the Steelers have to actually play with some fire and find ways to win.
Saturday’s matchup against the Colts in Indianapolis will be the biggest indicator of how the rest of the season will unfold. A win, and Pittsburgh is 8-6 and the playoffs seem like a greater possibility. A loss drops them to .500 with playoff odds under 30% with two divisional matchups and a road trip to Seattle sandwiched in between. That’s not ideal, to say the least.
There’s a real chance this team finishes under .500, which seemed unfathomable ahead of Week 13. It’s been a drastic collapse, and if this team doesn’t figure it out over the next four weeks, it’s going to be a long offseason.
